Hess, Connor lift Clay past Waite 70-63

Eagles pull away from Indians by cashing in on open shots

Clay's Hannah Novak (44) moves the ball against Waite's Mia Rodregiz (11).

Hannah Hess and Morgan Connor provided a solid 1-2 punch for Clay while playing at Waite on Monday night.

The two sharpshooters combined for 27 points to lead the Eagles to a 70-63 victory over the Indians.

PHOTO GALLERY: Clay defeats Waite 70-63

Hess finished with a team-high 14 points, including a 3-pointer, and Connor had 13, including a 3 of her own, in a contest where the Eagles (5-2) pulled away from the Indians (4-3) late in the second half.

"They've been our scorers all year," Clay coach Corey Slovak said. "They settled in and did a nice job of making some shots."

Haley Hess and Samantha Enck also scored in double figures for Clay, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Hannah Novak added nine points and Kayla Schaefer finished with seven to contribute to a balanced Eagles attack.

Waite's Ramiyah Henry poured in a game-high 21 points and Latesha Craig pumped in 19.

"They made shots, and we played no defense in key points of the game," Waite coach Manny May said. "We had some of the same opportunities to make shots but didn't.

"Hats off to them for making shots."

The Eagles, who led by three points at halftime, increased their lead in the second half and led by as many as 10 points early in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles worked the ball around and knocked down their share of open looks. The Indians trimmed Clay's advantage down to three points on three occasions late in the game, but could never get any closer.

The Eagles responded with timely basket after timely basket to hold off the Indians in a nonleague matchup between the former City League rivals.

Waite started the contest by jumping out to the early lead by feeding the ball into the post and Craig, who had a clear size advantage over the Eagles’ post players, went to work.

The Indians scored the game's first six points, and the Eagles didn't make their first basket until Connor hit a 3-pointer to make it 6-3 with 3:58 left in the first quarter.

The Eagles went on an 11-6 run to close out the quarter with a 14-12 advantage.

Hannah Hess poured in 10 points in the second quarter to help the Indians take a 31-28 lead into halftime. There were three lead changes during the second quarter before Clay closed out the period owning a three-point advantage.

Henry scored eight points during the second quarter for Waite. Craig scored all eight of her first-half points in the first quarter.

"Waite really came out and played very physical and very strong in the first half," Slovak said. "I thought they [controlled the tempo] in the first half. In the second half, we settled down and made some shots."

Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com, 419-724-6302 or on Twitter @DemmonsBlade.